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Magnitude-7.2 earthquake rattles Mexican capital

A parked car suffered damage when a adobe wall collapsed on it after a strong earthquake shook Chilpancingo, Mexico, Friday morning, April 18, 2014. A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook central and southern Mexico but there were no early reports of major damage or casualties. Photo: AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez

ACAPULCO, Mexico — A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook central and southern Mexico on Friday, sending panicked people into the streets, where broken windows and debris fell, but there were no early reports of major damage or casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it was centred northwest of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where many Mexicans are vacationing for the Easter holiday.

A woman is carried at the Juarez neighbourhood after a strong earthquake jolted Mexico City, Friday, April 18, 2014. AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo

It was felt across at least a half-dozen states and Mexico’s capital, where it shook for at least 30 seconds. Around the region, there were reports of isolated and minor damage, such as fallen fences, trees and broken windows. Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero, where the quake was centred, reported a power outage, but service was restored after 15 minutes.

In Acapulco, 59-year-old Enedina Ramirez Perez was having breakfast, enjoying the holiday with about 20 family members, when her hotel started to shake.

A man talks with a woman after a tree fell on his car at the Narvarte neighbourhood after a strong earthquake jolted Mexico City, Friday, April 18, 2014. AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo

“People were turning over chairs in their desperation to get out, grabbing children, trampling people,” the Mexico City woman said. “The hotel security was excellent and starting calming people down. They got everyone to leave quietly.”

The quake struck 273 kilometres southwest of Mexico City, where people fled high rises and took to the streets, many in still in their bathrobes and pyjamas on their day off.

“I started to hear the walls creak and I said, ‘Let’s go,”‘ said Rodolfo Duarte, 32, who fled his third-floor apartment.

The USGS initially calculated the quake’s magnitude at 7.5, but later downgraded it to 7.2. It said the quake was centred 36 kilometres northwest of the town of Tecpan de Galeana, and was 24 kilometres deep.

A handout image released by the U.S. Geological Survey on April 18, 2014 shows a shakemap of the location and intensity of an earthquake in Mexico. EPA/USGS / HANDOUT

In many cases of earthquakes in Mexico, it can take time to receive word from remote areas near the epicentre, where damage could be more extensive. No one answered the phone at the city hall for Tecpan de Galeana.

Mexico City itself is vulnerable even to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that quiver as quake waves hit.

The magnitude-8.1 quake in 1985 that killed at least 6,000 people and destroyed many buildings in Mexico City was centred 400 kilometres away on the Pacific Coast.